Poloncarz lays out Erie County agenda

Using his first “State of the County” address to offer highlights of his first year office, and also, lay an agenda for the coming years, Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz he will be aggressive in marketing the region to Canada, pushing for a different Erie County Industrial Development Agency and continuing to push for his “people-first” drive.

Poloncarz delivered his 40-minute speech late Wednesday afternoon to several partisan supporters at Albright-Knox Art Gallery. The predictable speech broke little new ground but was meant with a warm response from the pro-Democrat, pro-labor crowd.

Among the highlights:

• Poloncarz said Erie County will be turning the former Matthew Gajewski Clinic on Buffalo’s East Side into a “medical mall” for the needy and under-privileged by offering primary, dental and mental health services — a move that he said will save on costly ER visits to Erie County Medical Center.

• The county executive said he will personally be aggressive in marketing the region to Canadian businesses. In the past year, Poloncarz has played a major role in bringing two Canadian firms to the region - Outfront Portable Solutions to Buffalo’s East Side and Welded Tube to a portion of the former Bethlehem Steel plant in Lackawanna.

Canadians come to Buffalo for Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres games, to ski at Ellicottville and shop at the Walden Galleria.

“But, they don’t think of Erie County as a place to do business,” the county executive said. “Canada is our nation’s largest trading partner and we sit only 90 miles away from its economic hub - Toronto. But, when it comes to our relationship with them, it might has well be 9,000 miles away.”

• Poloncarz also took aim at the Erie County Industrial Development Agency, of which he is director, urging it to be more judicious in incentives being offered. The county executive voted against Catholic Health’s new downtown Buffalo headquarters and is vocal opponent of incentives being sought by Ciminelli Real Estate Corp. for a $100 million private sector investment in the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus.

“Now. I’ve taken some heat for my stance on this subject,” Poloncarz said. “Not surprisingly, there are entrenched interests who feel they are entitled to these tax breaks and now they are calling me ‘anti-business’ for questioning the status quo. Well, to that I say, I’m not ‘anti-business,’ I am ‘pro-taxpayer’ and I’m for ‘pro-economic’ development for all.”

• Taking many swipes at former Erie County Executive Chris Collins and Joel Giambra, who preceded him in office, Poloncarz said he has extended political olive branches to ECMC, the U.S. Department of Justice and NY Commission of Correction as well as the Erie County Fiscal Stability Authority.

“The constant fighting didn’t help the county and while we may not always agree, we turned the relationship from combative to cooperative,” Poloncarz said.

Poloncarz said he is driven by being the “people’s county executive” and not an elitist. He is doing this by running government as a cost-effective public sector entity more so than a traditional business.

“There are simply things that the private sector either can’t or won’t do,” Poloncarz said. “That’s precisely why government is here, to take on those tasks for the good of the community even when it may not make the most ‘business sense’ to do so.”